Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Just to let you know what the Urie side of our family got up to on our week long trip to Dubai...

We flew on Monday night from Heathrow Terminal 5. I know when it first opened that it got a lot of stick for being rubbish and having lots of delays etc but it was really nice! As it's only BA that fly from there it was really quiet and had some great shops to look around. Always like to have a stroll around Tiffany and Co. and look at all the sparkle!

We arrived early Tuesday morning and we were greeted by 34 degrees weather! It was only like 7am! We got taxi's to the hotel and on the journey was a fascinating place see- Mike and I decided though, that it was a place that really felt 'abroad' as obviously signs were in arabic and people were in the national emirates dress which was cool, but quite surreal at first.

Our hotel was apartments really and we were all staying in a 4 bed apartment with kitchen, living room etc. Really lovely and had a great pool (Enlgand cricketer Freddie Flintoff was staying there whilst we were and saw him lounging around the pool on a few occasions...).

Highlights of the trip were taking a trip into the middle of the desert. In big 4x4's we drove over sand dunes and watched the sun set, start gazed, camel rides and had a proper arabic evening with food and belly dancing. Was really cool and lots of fun. It was crazy just to be literally in the middle of nowehere- felt like Bear Grylls! We went ot a mosuque too which was really interesting.

We had afternoon tea at the Burj al Arab hotel. It is the only 7* hotel in the world. I felt like quite a celeb lol. Was quite a crazy hotel though as it was decorated in very bright colours but nice all the same.

We went to the Dubai Mall which is the biggest shopping mall in the world- I was in heaven! They had lots of UK shops like Topshop, New Lok and M&S and literally all designer stores I can think of- tried some Jimmy Choo's on and Manolo Blahniks... dreaming of one day owning a pair....! There was a massive aquarium in the middle of the mall so we saw that and there was a water fountain show in a massive lake that, dare I say it, was better than the Bellagio in Vegas. Lots of amazing things to do and see in Dubai.

Last main thing that we did, other than a bananna boat in the sea, was going to the Atlantis Hotel and waterpark. It is the newest hotel in Dubai and is on the man-made Palm island which can be seen from space. The water park was massive and very fun- there was a slide that went through the main aquaruim so was glass on all sides and felt like you were swimming with all of the fish. We all got rather sunburnt that day- oh well!

I would totally recommend going to Dubai to anyone- there is so much going on and is definately an up-and-coming venue. Lots of property developemt etc. I even caught mike looking at how to get an emirates visa the other morning- he thinks it would be a cool place to invest and build property for a few months. We will see....

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Ok, so this happened ages ago (well, June 2009) and realised that I never posted any pictures- I know my mum and sisters will want to see...

Because of my father-in-law's job and a new film that he was promoting (Goal 3), Mike, his brother Chris, father-in-law Pete and I, went to the preview for the film which was a charity event for some disbaled and ill children. The surprise for the kids was that the England football team would be there, as it's afootball film and the cinema in Watford was close to their training ground so they made a deal.

It was so surreal walking into a regular 'Vue' cinema and seeing the likes of David Beckham, John Terry, Wayne Rooney and the others. It was, for obvious reasons, the most star-struck I have ever been! Mike and I were the photographers for Metrodome so didn't really get chance to have pics with them ourselves.... :(

On the way...I was a bit too excited.... and reading Sammy's book in the car...lol!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Well, it's been a while... so thought I would update on what has been going on recently. At the end of September we moved into a new flat in Leatherhead, Surrey. Things have been busy trying to sort it all out and arrange things (it's something I, organisation queen, like doing though so can't complain). We went on a big shop to Ikea, (gotta love it), and bought some things that our last place didn't have like a bookcase, table and chairs, and more pots and pans etc. I know everyone makes fun of the flat-packs from Ikea and the fact that the instructions are illegible, but it is so true! Mike and I spent one loooong evening trying to put it all together, having to dissemble the chairs several times as certain parts had to go in certain places. Good times.

We have ordered a sofa and for some reason unknown to us it takes 8-9 weeks for delivery?! Do they hand-make them?! So, until then we are sat on a spare duvet in the loving room. My parents are visiting on Saturday though with their big beanbag for us that we have been allowed to borrow until the sofa arrives- bless them!

I am looking forward to seeing my mum, dad and meg as last time I saw them was the weekend of Emma's wedding. It was all quite whirlwind though, for obvious reasons, so will be nice to have a fairly relaxed visit with them and we can show them the flat, the party town that is Leatherhead and where I work etc. David and Gemma should be heading over too which will be good, we can talk weddings as it is getting so much closer for them now- so excited! We will see Emma and Mark at Christmas as they are coming over for the wedding and hope to see Rachel and Ryan at some point. It's weird not knowing when you will see your siblings (the ones that live abroad anyway), but am so proud of them for setting up a totally different life. I only moved 300 miles south when I got married and I thought that took a lot of getting used to- never mind being in a totally different country and culture but they are getting on with things fine and it really impresses me.

As we have moved to a different area of Surrey we will be in a new ward- Epsom. It's in the Crawley Stake. When I was living up north and if I ever met any one at dances from Crawley, I always used to think that's soooo far down south and miles away! Well, now I know! It's a nice area to live in though so I don't mind and so far seems all good with the ward. This time we are in a ward with a building- bonus lol.

I am fully back in my 'old-new' job now. It doesn't feel like I have been away! That's quite sad isn't it?! But probably a good thing that I settled right back into it. It is so good living a 15 minute walk away from work- and with our 'trendy' low-down bed, I literally can roll right out of bed and walk to work. Mike is getting back into the Uni thing and sounds like he has lots of modules that he will enjoy. It's the final year though and I know he would rather be getting on and working but it's not long to go now and he is on the last leg. Really proud of my hunky hubbs, he is such a hard worker and manages some of the wifely duties well too- he has the dinner on the table when I'm back from work, laundry done and the bed made :)

Well, I have kind of been wittering a bit so will leave it for now. We are going on a Urie Family holiday on Monday to sunny Dubai- actually so excited! Mike keeps on checking on the weather on his iphone and is always like 'London: 12 degrees, Dubai: 37 degrees'. Going to be scorching, but we are hoping to do some pretty cool things like a desert safari and visit a mosque and the world biggest shopping mall! Will update you with those adventures when we are back... x